▲ Because of the existence of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, on Fenyang Road, the "road of music" that people call it, you can witness how it writes about the castle where time and piano are intertwined. (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
If you want to sum up Fenyang Road in one sentence, it must be: musical symbols are everywhere.
Music has dyed it with romantic poetry, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, musical instrument shops, literary and artistic venues in the depths of the alley... Melodious piano sounds and songs come out of it, swaying on the road through the densely packed green branches. Inadvertently, you can meet students who carry cello, violin or accordion.
▲The sunlight shines through the dense green branches on Fenyang Road. (Photo by Wenhui reporter Ye Chenliang)
The reporter recently learned that in the upcoming overall upgrading project of the Shangyin Fenyang Road Campus, the Shangyin Campus, which is full of artistic atmosphere, will dismantle the wall in the future and open to citizens and tourists. The story on Fenyang Road is like a flexible note, playing the music of time on a short 815-meter stave. At that time, people can walk through the Shangyin Campus and Hengfu Landscape Area, taste the historical buildings that can be read, and complete the urban music journey on the stave.
Write about the castle where time and the sound of the piano are intertwined
Like many small roads in Shanghai, Fenyang Road is neither long nor wide. Against the backdrop of the adjacent Huaihai Middle Road, it appears even more tranquil, as if time has suddenly stopped. Behind the stout French plane trees on both sides of the road is the customs club of Shanghai's oldest all-wood freestanding garden house, the official residence of the Customs and Taxation Department designed by Hungarian architect Hudak, and the small white house on the sea like a European castle. They still retain their former appearance, and are the existence of the city independently of the tall buildings.
Unlike other small roads in Shanghai, because of the existence of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, on Fenyang Road, what people call the "Road of Music", you can witness how it writes the castle where time and piano are intertwined.
▲Old photos of the predecessor of Shanghai Conservatory of Music (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
No. 20 Fenyang Road, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which began in 1927, is located here. The history of music development in modern Shanghai is complex and rich, and how many memories worth remembering happened in the school building of Shangyin. The excellent tradition of "Heyi Zhuangcheng" in the Chinese music industry preserved by this academy was started by Cai Yuanpei, Xiao Youmei, Huang Zi and others, and although it has experienced wars and sports, it has been carried on by generations such as He Luting, Ding Shande, Zhou Xiaoyan and so on.
▲ Ding Shande, the former dean of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (middle), directs He Zhanhao (left) and Chen Gang to compose. (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
The melody of the violin concerto "Liang Zhu" seems to ring in the ears. This world-famous song was born in Shangyin at that time, and its theme is unique to Chinese culture. Before that, no one expected Yue opera to be creatively used in symphonies, and it could be so properly and beautifully blended with it. More than half a century ago, He Zhanhao, who studied Yue opera, and Chen Gang, who studied composition, together with other teachers and students, created "Liang Zhu" on Fenyang Road, which was premiered by Yu Lina as a violin soloist, and now it has become a well-known musical business card in China. According to Chen Gang's recollection, there were many schools of Shangyin at that time, and the academic origins of the professors were both German, American and French, and later added to the Soviet faction. The warmth of mutual respect between teachers, students and colleagues, as well as the lively academic atmosphere, have always been deeply in his mind.
▲Some members of the "Experimental Group for the Nationalization of The Chinese Violin" of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in the late 1950s (photo provided by Ding Zhinuo)
Standing at the gate at 20 Fenyang Road, looking inward, two adjacent small red western-style buildings are integrated, which was once the famous Jewish club on Shanghai Beach. Today, the Shangyin Office Building on the left and the He Luting Concert Hall on the right.
▲The "he hall" in the Shangyin population is the soul of shangyin. (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
The "he hall" in the Shangyin population is the soul of shangyin. During the day, she silently guards the campus and serves the teachers and students in the college.
At night, she shines in the golden light, and the red and white bricks shine as if she is dressed in a costume.
The "Greeting Hall" has undergone three renovations so far: after 1958, it was rebuilt into the Shangyin Auditorium, which was originally next to the small auditorium, which is now the VIP lounge; in the 1970s, some soundstage optimization was carried out, sound absorption treatment was added, and cement and wood silk boards were installed; in 2002, the original building was demolished on the basis of the Auditorium, in order to ensure the clearance height of the concert hall and ensure the sound field space, the stage direction was reversed.
▲Shangyin Auditorium (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
Today's "Hall" has a construction area of 4357 square meters, a stage area of 125 square meters, 744 seats, and the architectural and acoustic design refers to the world-class Vienna Golden Hall, with excellent acoustics.
The "He Hall" left a moving figure of famous teachers such as Zhou Xiaoyan and Zheng Shisheng; the "He Hall" once received a large number of friends from all over the world, and the violin master Isaac Stern in the early days of reform and opening up visited here. The "Greeting Hall" also retains the precious and warm memories of countless teachers and students. Fang Qiong, a professor of vocal singing, recalled that what she would never forget most was the New Year's concert held at the end of each year in the auditorium, "I remember one year, everyone lit a few bonfires at the door of the 'He Hall' and put up a stage to perform, although the winter in Shanghai was very wet and cold, but the hearts of everyone who were on the voice were warm." ”
Fang Qiong, professor of the Department of Vocal Singing, and her students (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
At present, the "Greeting Hall" hosts various music festivals, lectures and master classes internally in terms of function, and undertakes many large-scale high-quality performances externally, providing a platform for social music education for the public.
The "road to music", which has attracted the world's attention, can be expected
Walking on Fenyang Road, you can often hear the sound of pianos and songs drifting through the plane trees. One by one, young students carrying pianos walked along the road into the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Looking up, I found that Shangyin's new school building was next to the former Jewish club, and the two looked indistinguishable from old and new. On November 27, 2007, the inauguration ceremony of the new school building was held on the 80th anniversary of the founding of Shangyin School. The façade of this new building adopts hidden-frame curtain wall bay windows and pale yellow stone walls to simulate the shape of black and white piano keys, and the building plan is diagonally unfolded in a relatively complete combination of three buildings, forming a staggered rhythm and rhythm, forming a harmonious dialogue relationship with the surrounding streets and other old buildings on campus.
▲New teaching building of Shanghai Conservatory of Music (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
The Shangyin Opera House, located at the intersection of Huaihai Road and Fenyang Road, was called "the place where dreams begin" by Liao Changyong, president of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In addition to a 1,200-seat medium-sized opera house, there are four rehearsal classrooms for opera, orchestral, choral and folk music rehearsals to meet the teaching needs of the college, and a lecture hall for academic exchanges.
▲Shangyin Opera House (Courtesy of Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
Liao Changyong said that with the increasing prosperity of Shanghai's economic construction, the people's demand for cultural consumption is also increasing, from the popularity of symphony among the citizens to the popularity of the musical theater market in Shencheng, the demand for opera appreciation by Shanghai audiences will also be the general trend. "I hope that the future Shangyin Opera House can become a new cultural landmark leading the trend of opera viewing on Huaihai Road, integrating music into the blood of the city, helping Shanghai's cultural brand building, and highlighting the spirit of Shanghai."
If the sun is shining on the road, use the day to taste the path
Text/Orange Guest
Everyone's memory has a path that carries youth, and after many years, it is still the end of dreams.
In 2012, I was a master's and doctoral student at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and I moved from the master's dormitory on Wanping Road to the doctoral dormitory on Fenyang Road. Soon after, I wrote an essay, "The Little Man at No. 20 Fenyang Road," documenting the daily life of the city on and off campus, resonating with many alumni.
Now back here, the fat man selling dishes is still reading the newspaper in his pants, the little prince of the copy shop is still repeating his actions day and night, the smiling kaige will still appear at the festival occasion of his alma mater, the doctor who studied hard in the cold window has become famous, the flower girl has long disappeared, and the cat has been curled up next to the statues of the big people for many years...
▲Looking down on the buildings on Fenyang Road (Photo by Shou Yousen)
More than 90 years ago, the gentlemen built China's first independent national higher music school in Shanghai, which moved its site several times in the smoke of war until 1958, when it took root on Fenyang Road. To outsiders, the campus has always been "foreign" – whether it's the two old European-style buildings of the former Jewish Club and the former Belgian Consulate in China, or the Shangyin Opera House, which is rising from the ground, all put the word on the surface. However, the word "foreign" has been praised and depreciated in different eras. Therefore, this small courtyard once floated out the legendary rhythm of the violin concerto "Liang Zhu", and it also experienced a catastrophe that led to a series of tragedies. In fact, people here care most about only one thing: art.
Many of the streets of Shanghai, which are densely packed with French plane trees, are very foreign, but Fenyang Road, which is only 815 meters away, must be the most artistic. I'm not referring to the piano shops that line the two sides of the conservatory, it's a business mixed in art. If the sun is shining on a day, you can spend a day savoring this path that takes only ten minutes to walk.
Let's start with the Pushkin Monument. In the centenary of Pushkin's death, young Russian literary and artistic people pooled their money to build a bust for the idol. Nearly a hundred years later, a street garden centered on the statue was formed, known as the "Poet's Corner". There is a 400-meter Dongping Road in the corner, hidden in the middle school of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which is a more exquisite and elegant "Xiaofenyang Road" in my eyes.
Pushkin Monument in 1957 (file photo)
Walking into Fenyang Road, the first garden residence on the left was built in 1924 and later became Bai Chongxi's mansion, hence the name Bai Mansion. His son, the literary scholar Bai Xianyong, who lived here when he was ten years old, recalled: "Moving to Bixun Road in the French Concession, starting to resume school, studying at the Nanyang Model Primary School in Xujiahui, I really saw Shanghai, but the childlike eyes were like cameras, as long as they saw, clicked and snapped, they were photographed and archived in memory." This year, Bai Xianyong watched the Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion" at the Majestic Theater for the first time in his life, and this wonderful artistic experience became the source of his later writing "Dream of Visiting the Garden" and planning the youth version of "Peony Pavilion".
The White Mansion has been stationed in the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, Shanghai Yue Theater, Yueyou Restaurant, and Paulina Restaurant, where artists from all walks of life have drunk and discussed art, leaving good memories. Because the opposite is the nationally renowned hospital of the five senses, the door is full of traffic all year round. Most of the tenants of the old public houses around Fenyang Road are two groups of people: the families of patients or the parents of students admitted to the shanghai conservatory of music attached to primary and secondary schools, who cling to the hopes of their families in this small area. The former queues daily in front of the Barbie Mantou Shop, while the latter occasionally rewards the child with a lavish Western meal.
▲Fenyang Road street scene (Wenhui reporter Ye Chenliang photo)
Ahead of the intersection, on the right is the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Museum, built in 1905 in the Sea Xiaobai Palace display hundreds of carvings, embroidery, costumes exhibits, once attracted dignitaries from all over the world to visit. In the humble courtyard opposite, the Shanghai Art Institute sits — if I hadn't gone in to collect the manuscript fee, I wouldn't have noticed how many times I passed by that there was a low-key research institute hidden here, silently recording the city's art.
Opposite the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, there is a Spanish-style garden house, which has served as the official residence of the Customs and Taxation Department and the Customs Junior College, and is now the Fenyang Garden Hotel. Most of the poor students can only salivate at the high-end hotels, and then bury their heads into the Next Door Jiu Lane residential area , which is jokingly called the Shangyin Student Dormitory, and the music students who have passed through countless classes have been around, and the pianos in it have never stopped during the day, and the former residences of future Chinese musicians will presumably be concentrated in this ordinary alley.
▲Fenyang Garden Hotel (Photo by Shou Yousen)
The inconspicuous Fenyang Road on the map is an artist's paradise, and the architecture and history here explain what is meant by "the great hidden city". In my opinion, Fenyang Road is the "Left Bank of Shanghai", and the Middle Huaihai Road at its end is the "Right Bank of Shanghai". The shopping streets on the right bank of the Seine can be copied from all over the world, but the artistic resorts on the left bank are a unique cultural card of Paris. I hope that the "Left Bank of Shanghai" can always retain this tranquility, hidden between the surrounding prosperity.
(The author is a music scholar)
Author: Jiang Fang
Editor: Xu Luming
Editor-in-Charge: Xiaofang Xing
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.